Toy Shopping Guide: Part 1

What started out as plans for a small shopping guide has now turned into a 3 part guide with over 150 photos. I just couldn’t stop taking photos while I was toy hunting in Japan, I wanted to take everything in and there was so much to see so I figured if I’m going to do it, I might as well do it right and make it as detailed as I can.

AKIHABARA RADIO HALL

Part 1 of the shopping guide takes place in the famous Radio Hall building (秋葉原ラジオ会館) in Akihabara. From the Akihabara train station which you can get to on the green Yamanote line (山手線), blue Keihin Touhoku line (京浜東北線), or the yellow Soubu line (総武本線), walk towards the Electric Town exit, its pretty hard to miss as there are huge yellow lit up signs along the way. Once you get out of the station, you should see this colourful building, it even has it’s own website with floor plans for each level, click 秋葉原ラジオ会館 to see.

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1st Floor

The 1st floor is actually the ground floor, and most of the shops can be accessed from the outside of the building as well as through the main corridor, see the floor planラジオ会館１Ｆ.

ASTOPPU

This shop has a big mix of old and new, trading figures and action figures and just about everything you can think of. All items are displayed in small cube shelves, it does take a while to get through everything as it isn’t particularly well organised, and I found the prices to be a bit high for most items. Still cool to wonder through and check out.

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KOTOBUKIYA

Very well organised shop, sells everything from Revoltechs to stationary to trading figures and plushies etc, oh and a large range of Ghiburi merchandise at the back! I love the Laputa Robot Soldier! Across the hallway they also sell trading cards.

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2nd Floor

Second floor has some electronic stores but mainly occupied by toy stores. Kotobukiya has a larger collection on this floor than the first floor, see the floor plan ラジオ会館２Ｆ.

HAVIKORO TOYS

First toy store on the left once you come up the stairs, not as big as others in the building but they did have some old and rare items. They also stock a whole heaps of trading figures, reasonably priced.

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HOBBY SHOP KOTOBUKIYA

Heaps more selection of toys here than the shop on the first floor, each section is categorically organised to help you find what you’re after easier, nice display cabinets throughout the shop. Price is reasonable.

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KOTOBUKIYA CRAFTSMANSHIP

This shop is more like a gallery than a toy store, heaps of pro-built model kits on display including Armored Core and Zoids. Lots of bishoujo / pretty girl statues and figures as well as Marvel statuettes.

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3rd Floor

The whole of the third floor is the K-books book shop. Its full of comics, magazines, CDs, DVDs, and anything to do with anime and games. I wasn’t really interested so I skipped this level but here’s the floor plan anyway ラジオ会館３Ｆ.

4th Floor

The 4th floor has to be my favorite floor of the building, and it is where I spent most of my time and money:P See the floor plan ラジオ会館４Ｆ.

UCHUSEN TOYS & FIGURES

This shop is very well organised and offers great pricing and discounts. Large collection chogokin toys, as well as the latest action figures. There was also a good range of Blythe toys, but I wasn’t able to take photos of the display cabinet as there were staff watching me:P

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KAIYODO HOBBY LOBBY TOKYO

This shop need no introduction, its Kaiyido!! Heaps of display cabinets with the latest Revoltech and Sci-fi Revoltech range. Inside the store, they also had some older Revoltech figures, but none of the rare ones. At the back of the store there is a huge table full of Assemborg bits that customers can go and play with, some interesting creations there but not really my thing.

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YELLOW SUBMARINE

This was my favourite shop there by far, Yellow Submarine have a few different stores set up in the building and this one is on the 4th floor just beside Kaiyodo. They had a small collection of US toys but mainly sell Japanese figures, as well as some second hand S.I.C stuff, was very tempting indeed. I also found the 1/43 Tumbler batmobile there, on sale no less! There were other rare items I saw there but I’d already spent too much money that day so I had to pass. I found they had the best discounts which was great, and they take credit card payments incase you were wondering.

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5th Floor

Nothing much of interest on this floor, mostly storage and admin offices but continue up the stairs to the VOLKS store. Note there are no escalators but don’t let this fool you! See here for the floor plan ラジオ会館５Ｆ.

6th Floor

A good 3/4 of this floor is occupied by VOLKS, and the rest is office / admin. Floor plan here ラジオ会館６Ｆ.

VOLKS COLLECTION HOBBY

Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take any photos inside the actual shop, but trust me, it is worth visiting. It was a bit hot and stuffy in there as there was no air-con for some reason (all other floors had air-con on) but the store itself was very extensive. It stocked almost everything you can think of, figures, dolls, action figures, gundam, model kits, model supplies, air brushes, compressors and more! Towards the back of the shop, a huge huge collection of various dolls, and to my surprise there were quit a few middle aged ladies there XD.

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7th Floor

There are a few more stores on the 7th floor however I didn’t venture up there as I was pretty much “toyed out” by then. Looking at the map, there’s the Yellow Submarine Scale model shop, Yellow Submarine Game shop, VOLKS rental showcase and a few admin offices and storage.ラジオ会館　７Ｆ

This completes part 1 of the shopping guide, I hope this gives you an insight into what the famous Radio Hall building is like even though I didn’t visit and photograph all the stores there. If you do get a chance to visit Japan, and have limited time, this building is the perfect place to get your toy fix all in one convenient location.

Also check out:

Toy Shopping Guide: Part 2
Toy Shopping Guide: Part 3

Related Posts

1. » Toy Shopping Guide: Part 2
2. » Toy Shopping Guide: Part 3

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